The Power of Prayer

Thanks to Facebook, I really don't have a lot of explaining to do on here, but I want to write my post about this, so I will have this memory recorded for my benefit.

After Cora Love's SUCCESSFUL surgery, she spent a little over 24 hours in the ICU of Children's Medical Center.  Dr. Megison put her in there to watch her very closely for the first day or so after surgery. Such small patients as Cora, only 8 days old, sometimes experience something called Apnea after such strong sedation. Basically that is when the portion of your brain that reminds you to breathe, shuts down when you get in a deep sleep. This is the same condition that anyone can get called sleep apnea, but obviously this is from a different cause. The Dr also wanted to watch her closely because her surgery ended up being more extensive than first planned.
While in surgery, the Dr called a consult with Jake and I and told us the cyst was actually not connected to any of the bile ducts or outside of the liver (good news?). The cyst was actually outside the liver but then had crept inside through a tiny hole in the main bile duct entering the liver. He told us he would remove half of her liver to be able to get the whole cyst out. He also informed us that this was a Type II Choledochal cyst instead of a I or IV as first expected. Type II is 'absurdly rare' according to Dr Megison.
Another 2 hours later, we were told to have another consult with him and that surgery was over. We waited about 5 minutes in the tiny room for the Dr to come in..... seemed like an hour at least. When he did come he gave us what we thought was good news; he DID NOT have to remove any of the liver after all. The cyst inside was larger than half the size of the liver so removing half wouldn't have solved anything. Instead he cut into and opened up the organ and began cutting out the cyst one small piece at a time. He removed 90% of the cyst leaving only a tiny bit which he said was too deep into the veins and bile ducts to be able to get without causing more harm. He doesn't think that small amount of cyst will ever lead to anything else, but he did send off a biopsy of it to be sure which we haven't gotten back yet.
Ok, so our baby's liver was cut open and dug out but none was removed.... yea?! Her gall bladder was removed. We were able to go see Cora in the surgery post-op. Her Uncles Ash and Ty saw her and her Grammy. She was not in her cutest outfit and was hooked up to many wires and tubes, but she was resting comfortably. Soon she was transferred to the ICU where we had our own room and nurse.
This was early afternoon. Cora Love then began to hold her breath and gasp and then give a little scream. She did this every 30-45 seconds as Jake and I just watched in agony. Her nurse decided to give her a super small dose of morphine every hour to combat the pain. It seemed to be working after a few hours and she was screaming out less. I held her for awhile and this also helped a bit with her crying but she was still holding her breath then exhaling real big. At this time her oxygen levels would go down a little bit but come back up after she cried out or gasped. But by 7 or so that night, right after the shift change of the staff, her oxygen levels began to dip more frequently. The attending Dr for the night began to suspect either the anesthesia was affecting her breathing (apnea) or she had too much morphine in her system. Her nurse was not giving her too much of a dose, but since Cora's liver was the organ operated on, she couldn't process the medicines given to her as quickly as she should have. Her night nurse was wonderful and the night shift respiratory therapist, although he had a deep African accent, was a gem as well. As soon as something started beeping in our room they were running in. They always explained what they were doing and remained calm on the outside. 
Around 7:30pm Cora Love's oxygen dipped like it had been doing, but this time the numbers kept going down without stopping. More staff came rushing in her room than they had before. The number went into the teens and they began to bag her with oxygen. We just sat there on a little couch watching it all unfold, in disbelief.
The Dr came over and gave us his theories of what was going on but not a definite answer, so not a definite resolution either. About 30 minutes later, she dipped again but this time her oxygen went to 0. My heart sank. Again a rush of staff. You don't want all of the ICU staff in your child's room and hovering outside her door. That's not a good thing.
All through out the day, and actually days before because of my blog prior, Jake and I had heard of prayer chains going out for Cora's surgery. Our Sunday School class and church family at Calvary Baptist in Henderson had been praying for weeks already as well as our parents' churches. We knew we had tons of people praying for our little girl. But on the surgery day I think the prayers tripled in numbers because of Facebook posts, my blog, as well as texts and phone calls. Word got out she was out of surgery but it was more extensive than planned and the prayers continued. We had some phone calls and texts while we were in ICU that afternoon. Some we were able to answer so word got out she was having trouble breathing a little bit. When the bad episodes started around 7:30, a few of our friends knew it was more serious, but no one else knew or so we thought. Word quickly spread by our Sunday School classmates and Jake's and my best friends; some by texts but mostly by Facebook.
I've always been a little on the fence about the positive effects of Facebook and weighing the good vs the bad (drama caused) and have even deleted my page a few times because of the feeling that it drove more negative than positive. I'm a changed Facebook supporter after this experience.
After the second episode where they again had to bag her to get her to breathing again, they put a nose ventilator on her head and face. This would blow 15 puffs of air in her nose every minute as a means to 'remind' her to breath. Still, the Dr didn't know exactly what was causing her to stop breathing; effects of anesthesia still in her system, the morphine, or her way of dealing with the pain she was in.
The exact times of everything are a blur, but she had a third episode around 10:30 or 11 where her O2 number fell to 8. Rush of staff, the beeping sounds of alerts, bagging her again and still Jake and I just sat there helplessly watching. They got her back up to 100 O2 but not without the support of 60% of oxygen from the machine. A nurse came up to us and told us she took blood and tested it and she still had plenty of oxygen in her blood. That is when I figured out that they were worried. They were worried about the outcome, the cause and that what was happening could affect her. So far, she was ok. But while all of the rushing around in our room, the attending Dr came over to us and knelt down. He calmly explained he still didn't know exactly what was causing her oxygen depletion but he was going to give her drug that would reverse the effects of the morphine to see if that was causing her to stop breathing. Because her liver was worked on in surgery, he thought maybe it was processing the medicine slower and the morphine was just stacking up. He also gave us an ultimatum and told us if she dipped again and was bagged then he was going to intubate her. He said he still had control because of that last resort of intubation. But that was not ideal for her size, because again she would be heavily sedated and eventually back to where we are now needing to wean away from the drugs.
Slowly the staff left our room, but still hovered just outside the door, waiting on her last chance to fail and their job to intubate to begin. Tubes and bags were brought in her room 'just to be prepared.'
Jake said my mom called and was about to come back to Dallas (she had left earlier to go to Cole's Kdg graduation the next day). I asked him how did she know. He said it was all over Facebook. He said hundreds of people were posting, tagging posts and also texting him. I had to go to another room down the hallway to pump as I had been doing all day. I hated to walk out of the room, thinking I'd hear the beeps and know that it was my daughter and what they were doing, But I had to go. As I was sitting in that small room, pumping and looking out over the night time skyline view of Dallas from the 12th floor,  I began to sob and beg God to send His angels in her room to protect her and keep her from harm. 10 minutes of pumping equaled 10 minutes of sobbing, down on my knees (if I could while pumping) praying. When I was done, I quickly gathered my stuff and walked back down the hall listening for the loud beeps and rushing around of the staff. As I rounded the corner and saw her room, it was quiet and dark. I walked in and asked the respiratory therapist who was hovering near her monitors and Jake standing not too far away either how she was doing. So far she was steady. No dips. For the next 7-8 hours Jake and I laid on either ends of a small hospital couch/cot and watched the colorful monitor of numbers. Her oxygen would go down some and start beeping but as soon as the therapist got in there the numbers went back up. Jake slept a couple of hours, and I drifted off a few times, but beeps of any kind easily roused me and I continued staring at the monitor. By 7 am and the change of shift, Cora Love was still sitting pretty on her oxygen. They still had the nose vent on her to remind her to breath and that wouldn't come off until early afternoon. It wasn't until 7 or 8 am that I had the courage to take my eyes off the monitor and glance at my phone. I saw I had texted my best friend Amy in between one of the breathing episodes to please pray. I didn't remember doing this. When I got on Facebook, I was amazed at the number of posts I had of people praying; many of whom I didn't even know. The majority of the posts and texts we received were done around 10:30- 11 pm, right during that last episode when the Dr gave us the ultimatum of 'one more time.' Right during my sobbing, praying pumping session. Jake and I both knew right then that the only thing that kept her from not breathing again was the power of prayer. Nothing else.
The Drs think the morphine was the culprit, coupled with the anesthesia still in her system and the pain she was in. But once the reversal drug was administered, she wasn't gasping and she was breathing more calmly. But the Dr made the right decision to give her that drug. Right around 10:30-11 pm.
I apologize that this post is so lengthy and detailed. I never planned on telling everyone the private details of our hospital stay but this was a miracle that needed to be shared. I don't know if we'll ever tell Cora Love about that night and the helplessness that her parents felt while siting on that little couch. But I feel its important to share it now. Prayer is powerful. Its not always God's will to give us what we're praying for. I understand we don't always get what we ask for from Him. But this time, it was His will not only to save Cora but also to use her and this night as a testimony to any doubter that prayer CAN work.
Today, Cora's eating and pooping. She's acting like an 11 day old newborn and we hope to come home in a day or so. We miss her big brothers SO much.